I will be DJing at Cafe Tazza in Providence, RI on the night of June 17th. If you're in the area, come check it out. It looks to be a pretty swanky spot.
For my smoking friends...
List of Diseases Linked to Smoking Expands
The list of diseases linked to smoking grew longer Thursday. Add acute myeloid leukemia, cancers of the cervix, kidney, pancreas and stomach, abdominal aortic aneurysms, cataracts, periodontitis and pneumonia.
Brainball is a game where you compete in relaxation. The players' brainwaves control a ball on a table, and the more relaxed scores a goal over the opponent.Shall anyone challenge ME? Muwahahaha!
Is the belief in a soul an inborn trait?
NATURAL-BORN DUALISTS - A Talk with Paul Bloom
The Devil in our DNA - An Interview w/ Stephen Batchelor
I would understand greed, hatred, delusion, the big "baddies" in Buddhism, to originate from within our physical organism, our nervous system, our brain, which has developed over millions of years. The origins of hatred, craving, and so on would seem to be found in our own evolution. I can’t see where else they could come from. Unless, of course, one adopts the supernaturalistic notion of a formless, ethereal mind that somehow inhabits and affects the body while being essentially different from it—a dualistic idea I find hard to comprehend. And if our delusions are physiological in origin, then we have to ask how and to what extent a spiritual practice such as meditation can transform or remove them. Meditation would seem, as research suggests, to be capable of changing certain neural patterns in the brain. But can it completely eradicate such primal instincts as fear and desire? Maybe—but as long as we remain embodied animals, I doubt it.
Texas official says Unitarian church not tax-exempt
Unitarian Universalists have for decades presided over births, marriages and memorials. The church operates in every state, with more than 5,000 members in Texas alone.This really pisses me off. Read on. (For those of you who do not know, I attend the local UU church and I am getting married in less than a month by a UU minister.)But according to the office of Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn, a Texas Unitarian church isn't really a religious organization - at least for tax purposes. Its reasoning: The organization "does not have one system of belief."
Today I heard my first cicada of the season.
Cellular automata and music - Using the Java language for algorithmic music composition
Shout the word semiotics across a room today, and the room will very likely shout back at you, "What do you mean, semiotics?" It is a good question and at the same time, according to semiotics, a uselessly subjective question, for semiotics is the study of meaning itself -- or rather how images and words (like semiotics, for example) come to mean anything at all.
Latest episode in the Annals of Homeownership:
Carpenter Bees are digging tunnels in my roof! Wee!
How Bad Is It? by Douglas Rushkoff
Wow. Electronic Musician magazine appears to have all of their back issues online.
Looking further, they also have Art in America, Down Beat, Mix, Remix, and a ton more.
Live at Philadelphia Laptop Battle 2 - Philadelphia, PA - 5/13/2004
Round 1: Brechia
Round 2: Buttons
*I apologize for the distortedness of the recordings. I'll eventually figure out this newfangled recording device.
[Grooves Magazine Write-up] [hi res PDF version]
[Photos] [Flyer] [My write-up]
Well, the laptop battle has come and gone, and a good time was had. I was pretty happy with my performances, except for some dynamics issues on my second round set. It didn't "punch" like it should have. I should have left the compressor at home.
Effectively, I suppose you could say I came in 4th place, as I was "tied" with Vytear for the last slot in the final round and was knocked out by crowd decision (ahem). I found this to be somewhat strange as I thought Vytear was head-and-shoulders above the other competitors, but I digress. I appreciate and give thanks to everyone who came out and those who gave me positive feedback at the event. And, it was a pleasure to meet Mr. Jason Vytear, who seems to be a very intense, energetic, and talented chap. He's going places, me thinks.
I was very impressed with the talent on display in general. Of note was Starkey with his melodic hiphop/jungle hybrid sound, who I thought should have definitely made it to the second round (at least); DJ PE, who played some quality soulful instrumental hiphop; Bilwa with his echo-saturated dub stylings; and of course Ill Cosby who always rocks the house.
I must say that I was quite baffled by the judging. Personally, I would have ranked it very differently. Take the analogy with a DJ battle, which I would assume is apt in this case. It is as if you had a number of competitors who worked their ass off honing their skills, developing their material, practicing their scratching techniques, trying to create a set that is energetic, interesting, and crowd-moving.... They come to the battle and tear it up.... and the prize is given to the person who thows on a Tangerine Dream album, sits in the lotus position, and meditates for 10 minutes. No offense to Fidget intended. Her music is good for what it is. But let's face it, it's repetitive droney ambient music. I am surprised that it was judged to be the "best" in this context. Perhaps the judges were trying to make some sort of statement, in favor of the subdued and understated over the flashy and tricky? But isn't a laptop/dj/rap battle supposed to be all about flash and fun and entertainment? I don't get it.
Anyway, I'll check the recordings when I have some time later and will hopefully put it online here in some form.
UPDATE: Rob's comments on the tbtmo site:
"Many congrats to our girl Erin Anderson aka Fidget, who carried her low-key minimal ambience to 1st place in Philly's second Laptop Battle, upsetting two maniacal high-bpm homies who had seemed to have been ripping shit with the crowd for a battle for 1st. The "holy shit, what the fuck?" of the night was William Fields not making it to the finals after two really top-quality mid-tempo sets that I thought were pretty flawless. Tough break, but take away the "battle" part and it was a good time to get a little sloshy and blab to people while some decent shit was being performed. And Gair, you fuckin' cuss too much... and you can't chuck the free cds at people's heads, and then mock it on the mic, dude. That's bad shit yo."
UPDATE: Here are my performances from the first two rounds. The recording is distorted in the louder sections (damnit), but it's the best we've got.
...and here's a practice take of the new song I was going to perform as my final song of the 3rd round:
UPDATE: I've added the event to my live page. Photos here.
This Thursday night!:
Competitors:
Variati, Ill Cosby, William Fields, Vytear, Fidget, Starkey, DJ PE, Clayton the Chemist, Bilwa, Lance Blisters
Thursday May 13th - 9pm
Silk City
5th & Spring Garden St
Philadelphia, PA
$5 - 21+
I made a purty icon for .pd files.
History of Boomboxes
Leon's Random Joke Generator
Did you see the gorilla? (What our brains miss.)
Ask Metafilter: What is 'key'?
Grow-your-own to replace false teeth (Yes!)
A new kind of electrified music out of Africa
Krumping
Cassetteboy
Mr. Projectile - Sinking (My album of the year so far.)
Kenny Muhammad (This man has phatter beats than you.)
The show at the Philadelphia Electronic Music and Art Festival was a success. Thank you to everyone who came out and to Sean for putting it all on. The recording of my set is available on the Live page. The recording of the Team Techno set will probably be available soon.
Live at the Philadelphia Electronic Music and Art Festival - Philadelphia, PA - 5/1/2004
1. Brechia
2. Buttons
3. Slipp
4. X-Song
[Stream entire set] [Photos] [Flyer]
